


sick sixteen

by orphan_account



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: M/M, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-08
Updated: 2012-09-08
Packaged: 2017-11-13 19:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>garrett never gets sick, but carver always does. some brotherly cuddling ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sick sixteen

Garrett never gets sick.

The last time Carver could remember was a nasty bout of bronchitis back when his brother was in the fifth grade. Carver remembers because it happened on Halloween, when there was a festival at their school, hay rides and everything, and he and Bethany had to stay home because mom didn’t want “Garrett to feel left out.”

It still shows up every now and then, a deep, hollow cough during the winter weather that hurts to hear, but Garrett usually waves his hand in front of his chest and laughs.

Carver wants to tuck the scarf around his brother's neck a little tighter sometimes, the scarf Garrett loosens to show off his hickeys. Carver tells him it makes him look easy, and Garrett grins and says maybe that's what he's wanted all along.

It isn't fair. It isn't fair that his older brother parades around in tight t-shirts even in the snow sometimes, his nipples poking through the fabric like that and shivers wracking his body, and Carver's still the one who gets sick.

He thinks it's a bad cold, but mom thinks he's going to get pneumonia. She blames it on early morning practice, but Carver just blames it on second-best genes.

Garrett's in and out all day, making noise, waking Carver from his nap. At one point Anders stops by with some nasty-smelling soup, half his face still hidden through a thick wool scarf.

"It's a secret herbal remedy. Don't make that face." Anders sets the thermos by his bed. "It's not that bad. You get used to the taste after a few sips."

Carver refuses to touch it after he leaves, and Garrett clucks his tongue at him before he takes a whiff and his face pinches so tightly Carver almost laughs at him. But his throat hurts and he's dizzy, so he mutters, "Ha."

"I still would have been more polite," Garrett says, and goes to the bathroom to dump it down the sink.

On day three, Macha texts Carver to tell him that she misses him in Lit. Carver puts the phone down as Garrett enters their room, dressed in the always too tight t-shirt, pajama bottoms riding low on his hips. He has a big flat book under his arm, and he climbs up to Carver's bed on the top bunk, settling next to him, too close. Carver sweats because of the heat and the fever. Garrett never gets sick, so he musses Carver’s hair.

"Go away," Carver mumbles, flipping over on his stomach and putting his head in his arms.

"But I brought you your favorite story." Garrett holds up the book with a glossed purple dragon on the cover, "you used to ask dad to read you this all the time."

"No, that's your favorite story," Carver says, "I liked the one about the brave dog."

"Oh come on," Garrett says, and flips a couple pages into the book, the length of his body burning a hot stripe into Carver's side. "'The dragon swooped down to land in front of the lost little boy. The little boy said--' what did he say, Carver?"

"Fuck off," Carver groans, because Dad used to read like that.

"He _didn't_ say that," Garrett scolds. He grins, but he snaps the book shut. The sound startles Carver, but he tries not to show it.

When he first feels lips on his ear, Carver thinks it's part of his fever, but the rough bristles of his brother's beard snap him out of it.

“Stop it,” he tries one last time, but his nose is as stuffed as his ears feel, so it comes out sounding like _stobbit._

“Sorry, didn’t quite catch that.” Garrett hums against his cheek and pushes his nose in between Carver’s face and the pillow, kissing his sweaty upper lip. His hand is cool against Carver’s forehead for once, and Carver brushes his lips against Garrett’s chin.

-

Garrett never gets sick, except for a week later, when Carver’s finally better. As he gets ready to go to practice, Garrett asks him to read his favorite story to him.

When Carver takes out the dragon one, Garrett rolls his eyes and says no, the one on the left.

Carver takes it out of the shelf, and the cover's ripped off, the white tears in the paper tickling his fingers. On the first page there's a picture of a dog that looks just like Garrett's.

**Author's Note:**

> this is actually an old fic i cleaned up that i had written for shimmy a while ago! it just gives me good memories


End file.
